Two free events this Saturday, and the cheapest fix in your utility closet

Saturday gives you two free reasons to leave the house, and they land about 25 minutes apart.

The Arkansas Home Show fills the Rogers Convention Center all weekend with contractors, remodelers and product booths. The NWA Emergency Preparedness Fair sets up the same morning in Centerton, with first responders and storm-prep resources for the season ahead.

This issue also has a new networking night worth putting on next month’s calendar if you’re a builder, sub or supplier, and a two-minute check that’s one of the cheapest fixes in the house before heating season starts.

Saturday, September 26, 9 a.m. 950 Seba Rd, Centerton. Free. An annual community fair with local first responders, weather resources and emergency-prep information under one roof, timed for the start of fall storm season. Local meteorologist Darby Bybee (40/29) is confirmed attending.

Saturday, September 26, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, September 27, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Rogers Convention Center, 3303 S Pinnacle Hills Pkwy. Free with an online pass at homeshowsar.com, or $10 at the door. Free parking. Contractors, remodelers and home-product vendors from around the region, useful if you’re planning any project bigger than a weekend job.

Check your furnace filter before you turn the heat on.

That filter has been working all summer, not sitting idle. It’s the same filter your AC pulls air through, and a hot Northwest Arkansas cooling season loads it with dust just as fast as a heating one does. A filter left in place too long is often why a system runs loud, blows weak air, or trips a high-limit switch the first cold week of the year.

Find your system’s filter slot. On many homes that’s a slim door on the furnace or air handler itself, but plenty of NWA houses instead pull return air through a grille in a hallway ceiling, a closet wall, or another central spot, check there if you don’t see a slot on the unit. Slide the filter out and hold it up to a light. If you can’t see light through it, replace it. Even if it looks fine, a basic pleated filter is inexpensive and worth swapping now rather than waiting for the first cold snap to find out it’s clogged.

A good rule of thumb is every 3 months, but treat that as a starting point, not a rule. Pets, allergies, a higher-end filter, or a system that runs hard through our summers and cold snaps can mean swapping it every 4 to 6 weeks. A lightly used system can sometimes stretch longer. When in doubt, check it and let what you see decide.

Check the airflow arrow printed on the filter’s frame. It should point toward the furnace, not away from it. A filter installed backward restricts airflow the same as a dirty one.

This is homeowner-safe work with no tools required. If the furnace itself won’t turn on, makes unusual noises, or trips a breaker, that’s a call to a licensed HVAC technician, not a DIY fix.

A construction-only networking night is coming to Rogers. Hive Networking NWA is bringing back its “Construction Buzz” series on Tuesday, October 20, 6 to 9 p.m., at Countertop World, 1706 W Commerce Dr, Rogers. The organizer is pitching it specifically to builders, contractors, developers, subcontractors, architects, engineers, suppliers and property professionals, with 500-plus attendees expected. No stage time or pitching required, just a room built for the kind of conversations that turn into referrals. Registration is open at hivenetworkingnwa.com.

Heading to either event Saturday? Reply and tell us what you find, we’ll pass along anything useful to other readers.

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Know about a counter day, a free workshop, a training deadline, or a new business we should be watching? Just reply to this email.

Levi Pittenger

Publisher, The NWA Trade Guide